Dog keeps eating out of flower pots

FriendlyJ

Goodmorning
Just a bit of a strange one!
Does anyone else have a dog that keeps eating the compost out of the garden?
My dog ate approx 1/4 of a bag of organic potting compost yesterday :eek:
& is trying his hardest to eat out of the pots when I'm not looking. Is this normal? Will it do him any harm?
I wouldn't spend so much time trying to keep his diet varied & interesting if I'd known that he'd eat a soil manure mixure with such relish!:rotfl:
J

elsien

Yes, mine does exactly the same, and apart from turning her doings a funny colour and bunging her up a bit, hasn't done her any harm yet. At first I thought it was the smell of the bone meal fertilizer I'd added that attracted her, but when I stopped using it, it didn't make any difference she's just carried on munching. More so when it's wet, so perhaps there is something in there that smells like food to her.
The only way I've found to stop her is to only let her in the yard when I'm there, which is a bit of a pain. Still, she's been munching soil for the last 7 years with no ill effects - just watch out for constipation. 1/4 bag sound quite impressive!

harveybobbles

My little pup when he was a few months old used to bering me whole plants from the garden in his mouth...

pboae

Mine does it too, a few things to watch out for:

If they eat snails and slugs (either on purpose or as part of the compost) they can catch lungworm (and a few cases of heartworm have been seen in UK too). Both of which can be fatal, so make sure your vet knows they do it and can recommend the appropriate wormer (not all wormers cover them).

Some composts contain cocoa mulch, and if your dog is sensitive to chocolate it can be fatal.

Some composts contain water retention crystals, and they can be very dangerous if eaten. They swell up when they absorb water and can cause serious blockages.

The best thing to do is cover the top of your pots and planters with chicken wire. You can put it just below the surface if you want to hide it. The plants will grow straight through but your dog will find it hard to dig in and get the compost out.

Penny_Watcher

pboae wrote: »

If they eat snails and slugs (either on purpose or as part of the compost) they can catch lungworm (and a few cases of heartworm have been seen in UK too). Both of which can be fatal, so make sure your vet knows they do it and can recommend the appropriate wormer (not all wormers cover them).

:eek::eek::eek::eek:. Thanks pboae, I didn't know that.